Digital Foundry's video is hopefully coming soon, but in the meantime some new comparison videos from IGN and co popped up. Figured it would be good to get people up to speed who are still on the fence. As many expected the visual differences between the Wii U version at E3 and the Switch reveal version were entirely down to aesthetic changes for the most part.

Compression hides the resolution differences, so that's certainly still there along with the other changes Nintendo specifically outlined. But outside of that they look very close

I also compared the loading times between the game installed to the internal memory on the Wii U and the Switch playing the game of the card (newest patch 1.1 in both cases including the Switch Day 1 firmware update as well):

WiiU:

New Game: 9.80

Reset to Title Screen: 4.60

Loading first shrine: 9.13

Finishing first shrine: 8.96

GameOver in a late game section: 9.56

Switch:

New Game: 7.40

Reset to Title Screen: 3.82

Loading first shrine: 11.36

Finishing first shrine: 13.29

GameOver in a late game section: 12.08

Whenever there is serious amounts of data to load the Wii U NAND outperforms the Switch game card. I assume installed to the Switch the results would look quite similar though.
Wii U can probably shave some additional seconds off if you use a SSD as evidenced by other games. Fortunately there is not much loading in this game

Feel free to add your own comparisons. Direct feed screenshots would be appreciated as well

The only difference I'm spoting in these screens are aliasing, like in the one that feature a close up of Link. Probably thanks to the difference in resolution.

Which I'm guessing is due to the Wii U version being 720p and the Switch 900p, so less aliasing on the Switch version. I also notice better lighting on the Switch version unless its due to time of day.

Originally Posted by LewieP

Frame rate is the far more interesting question to me.

Same. Either way people who have a Wii U and want Zelda are in for a treat.

Pretty impressed how much alike they look. I'm sure in person the Switch will look a bit sharper and have a little better performance. It seems both versions have framerate issues, WitWix Switch stream earlier had some hiccups and it straight up froze for one second when he was paragliding at one point.

wow, I thought the differences were going to be bigger than that. I was going to wait until I eventually got a Switch to play it, but I don't know when that will be, so I might just pick it up for the Wii U.

The Wii U running at a lower resolution seems like it could create the scenario with the PS4 and PS Pro, in that by upping the resolution and detail on the Pro, some vanilla PS4 titles would run at a higher framerate just because they weren't pushing nearly as hard.

Hopefully not, and they both run decently. The Twitch streams I've seen showing the Wii U version seem reasonable, and I didn't hear any complaints saying it was unplayable or anything. My download sits at 53%, so hopefully I'll be able to see in a few hours!

Though I can't really compare as I haven't played it on Switch. Controls don't feel tight like Wind Waker. Often having to think a lot before presses and it kinda sucks you can't really re-map buttons.

Though I can't really compare as I haven't played it on Switch. Controls don't feel tight like Wind Waker. Often having to think a lot before presses and it kinda sucks you can't really re-map buttons.

Still having a lot of fun though. Great looking game.

My biggest problem was jump being mapped to X. Thank god they let you change that with running (B), but yeah the control situation isn't ideal on the game pad.

Originally Posted by Lovely Salsa

So how come switch version isnt 1080p?

They can barely get it to run well on 720p lol. The switch isn't that much more powerful than the Wii U, but I think it's also worth considering that this is Nintendo's first open-world game (and a pretty massive one at that). They probably bit off more than they could chew.

Apart from major AA differences they pretty much look the same. I actually expected the Switch version to have a big advantage in draw distance but apparently that's not the case.
Performance, resolution and AA (and maybe some higher quality textures) are enough to make me play the Switch version.
I just have to get through this work day...

The Wii U is probably a couple FPS lower on average and has a much bigger lowest FPS (sub-20fps). Looking at early foot it's very noticeably slower in villagers with all the NPC's. Though even on Switch there's a lower framerate just not nearly as bad.

I haven't seen anything that I find unacceptable though.

I'll pick it up Sunday at Target. A nice Swan song I guess but I actually have a lot of Wii U games I need to finish.

Watching the GB 90 minute Quick look(lol) the frame drops were pretty damn evident. Interesting to see how much worse the Wii U version is in that respect

Probably a bit, but not much (when compared to the Switch in dock mode)

Originally Posted by SRTtoZ

Which I'm guessing is due to the Wii U version being 720p and the Switch 900p, so less aliasing on the Switch version. I also notice better lighting on the Switch version unless its due to time of day.

Later on in the IGN video the time of day is slightly different if you mean that particular portion

Originally Posted by Derkon

Pretty impressed how much alike they look. I'm sure in person the Switch will look a bit sharper and have a little better performance. It seems both versions have framerate issues, WitWix Switch stream earlier had some hiccups and it straight up froze for one second when he was paragliding at one point.

I never had these freezes on Wii U actually. Might be loading related and thus Switch exclusive

Main difference visually seems to be resolution and anti-aliasing. The Wii U version looks like it has practically no AA, whereas on Switch there's clearly at least some sort of post-process AA happening in addition to the resolution bump.

A good example of this is the torches/lantern things behind Link in what I assume is the starting area.

The Wii U is probably a couple FPS lower on average and has a much bigger lowest FPS (sub-20fps). Looking at early foot it's very noticeably slower in villagers with all the NPC's. Though even on Switch there's a lower framerate just not nearly as bad.

I haven't seen anything that I find unacceptable though.

I'll pick it up Sunday at Target. A nice Swan song I guess but I actually have a lot of Wii U games I need to finish.

Main difference visually seems to be resolution and anti-aliasing. The Wii U version looks like it has practically no AA, whereas on Switch there's clearly at least some sort of post-process AA happening in addition to the resolution bump.

A good example of this is the torches/lantern things behind Link in what I assume is the starting area.

Switch

Wii U

Well I'm playing the switch version now and it honestly looks like there's no AA nor AF present.

Though I can't really compare as I haven't played it on Switch. Controls don't feel tight like Wind Waker. Often having to think a lot before presses and it kinda sucks you can't really re-map buttons.

Well I'm playing the switch version now and it honestly looks like there's no AA nor AF present.

To be fair, 900p isn't great for image quality to begin with, and it's possible that the AA solution breaks down in some situations. Based on the videos I've seen though, it looks a lot more shimmery and jaggie on Wii U.